If you're not careful, your keychain gets out of control pretty fast. Before you know it, you'll have five keys for things you don't own anymore, a ton of rewards cards, and few tools you don't really need. You can handle this situation in a lot of ways. Let's look at a few of the best.

Segregate Your Keys

First things first, it's time to organize those keys into a meaningful order. Lay all your keys (and anything else on your keychains) out on a table. Pick through and get rid of anything you don't want and keys you don't use anymore.

Advertisement

Then, group your keys together by function. Put transportation related keys on one ring, work keys on another, occasional keys elsewhere, and so forth. After everything is sorted, remove any keys you don't need.

Consolidate Loyalty Cards Onto Your Phone

One of the most obnoxious ways a keyring might bloat in size is loyalty card key fobs. These handy, but space-wasting cards are great when you hit up the grocery store, but they're obnoxious at all other times of the day. Thankfully, you can easily ditch them.

Advertisement

Both Android and iOS have built-in system to deal with rewards cards. If you have a store's app, you can load up Google Wallet or Passbook to store your rewards card number. If you don't want to download a ton of apps, we like Key Ring as a pretty simple solution that stores all your rewards cards numbers in one single place. Just scan your rewards cards into Key Ring, and you can throw out the little fobs and never think of them again.

Get Rid of the Key Ring with an Alternative Keychain

Sometimes, the bulk of a keychain comes more from the chain itself. The common split key rings are hard to organize, come in all kinds of sizes, and generally add a lot more bulk than you need to your keys. So, perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of alternative systems out there for organizing your keys.

You have a ton of options for alternative key chains—from DIY solutions to commercial ones—here are a few of our favorites that cut down on the bulk:

Keydisk: The Keydisk system is pretty simple, but it works well. Keys go in a triangular box, and fold out easily when you need them. It holds up to six keys, and works with car remotes. It slims down your keys only a little bit, but more importantly it makes them jangle around a lot less.

A zip tie
: If you're looking to really just take down a little bulk from a few keys, reader Dan Kirshenbaum's system is to just use a zip tie instead of a keychain.

Keyport: The Keyport stuffs all your keys into a little box and makes it so you can slide them out easily. The whole thing is about the size of a Tic Tac box, and provided you only have a few keys, works really well.

Chop off the tops completely
: You can also just go all in and chop off the tops of your keys completely. Redditor mattfrancis13 cut off the tops of his keys, then clipped them together with a nut and bolt. It's an insanely small setup, and it's certainly the most minimal approach.

There are plenty of other solutions for key storage out there, so it's worth experimenting or looking around if none of the above fit your needs.

Use a Pocket Clip System

Another method of dealing with clunky key chain is to use a pocket clip system. Essentially, the idea here requires you to hook your keys to the top of your pocket so they don't jangle around and stab you as much. It also makes it so you can clip your keys to your belt, bag, or any other pocket on your pants.